Reviews by Chadbrew:

Picked this up as part of a mixed six this weekend.
It pours out OK with a fair amount of head, unfortunately that doesn't last long. There is some pretty decent lacing around the edges and the carbonation seems to be appropriate for the style. The aroma is very faint, I mean it's so faint I literally stuck my nose in it trying to get something besides a slight bit of cocoa/ coffee and mild malt. The flavor is a creamy light chocolate milk with slight hints of a sourness that actually adds a bit of character to an otherwise mostly boring flavor profile. The mouthfeel is a bit light for what I expect from a porter.
Overall... I'm not sure why but this beer actually grew on me near the end. I don't know if it was the lack of any dominating flavors but it did seem to be fairly easy to throw it back.

More User Reviews:

3/5 rDev +6.8%look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

The Piedmont Porter pours from the 12oz bottle a deep garnet/brown color with a small wispy eggshell head that quick falls to a ring around the brew. When held up to the light I get a deep crystal clear garnet, hmmm, porter you say? Aromas being with lots of roasted grain coupled with a nice sweetness. Some faint herbal hops floating around in there as well as a subtle note of licorice and cocoa.

First sip brings a light roasted maltiness with a slightly rough grainy aspect. A touch of chocolate, molasses and licorice weave in and out of the brew. Flows down with a very shallow herbal hoppiness. Kinda sweet overall with only a kiss of bitterness on the end. Clean, crisp and easy drinkin.

Mouthfeel is rather thin and a bit creamy with fast moving bubbles. Goes down quite easily, but fails to give me the body I'm looking for in a porter. This is supposed to be an example of an early colonial version of a porter, but having no real knowledge of the beer in those times I can't say how close it is. I can say it doesn't hold a candle to the porters of today! Drinkability is good if you're looking for an easy drinkin brew. Comes off more as a dark lager. Give it a try if you run across it but I wouldn't seek it out!

Presentation: This is one of six beers from an eighteen pack labeled Beer of America, Historical Collection. The 18 pack also came with a nice book titled, The History of Beer in America. It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a pint glass. There appears to be no freshness date on the bottle.

Appearance: The body has a medium brownish/red color with a very clear appearance and visible carbonation. This seems very odd to me for the style. On top is a thin white head that quickly fades out to just a wispy thin ring of bubbles that makes no lacing at all.

Smell: Its aroma has hints of lightly roasted sweet malt and metallic/salty minerals with a touch of leafy hops.

Taste/Palate: There is a big buttery grain flavor with some lighter hints of roasted malt. The malt up front has modest sweetness is lightly balanced by some mineral/leafy hop flavor and mild bitterness. Into the finish there are some citrus orange peel and salty metallic notes. The body is light to medium with a slick fizzy texture.

Notes: There is nothing about this beer that reminds me of porter. The color seems to light, the flavor is to light and boring. There is no head retention at all and it has that same salty/metallic/diacetyl taste I found in all the others beers in this mixed pack. The best part of this 18 pack is the book that came with it.

Bottle pours a dark mahogany body with a large tan head that leaves some nice lacing. Aroma is chocolate and roast coffee. Body is light medium and on the thin side. Medium carbonation. Taste is chocolate malt and dark roasty bitterness. This is a decent American porter and the best of what was apparently the Minhas Brewery's sampler pack.

Inky black with a foamy white head on it. Not much on the smell. A very light chocolate scent, but not much else, and not too strong.

Tastes about the same. It's smooth, it's a tiny bit malty with some chocolate flavors, but it's fairly weak. A fairly pedestrian porter, but as I've had some truly terrible ones, this one gets a few points simply for not having any weird flavors to it.

A - This one is a dark shade of brown with garnet highlights and a massive four finger head of fluffy foam. Retention is extremely good it takes the head a few minutes to slowly settle to a finger. A good amount of lace is left on the glass, and slowly slides into the chestnut brew.

S - Toasted marshmallows. Some woody and nutty flavors come through too. This smells like a nut brown ale more so than a porter, but that's ok...it smells really good! This smells profoundly like toasted marshmallows over a fire...I can smell the blacked edges and the gooey center.

T - This tastes a little more beefy and sausage-y than it smells, but some of the marshmallow hints remain. This is smoky and salty like beef jerky, and some burnt grains present themselves on the midpalate.

D - This was the only good brew to come from the mixed pack of very sub-par beer. I'm pleasantly surprised, and would probably pick up a six pack of this if I see it somewhere. This is almost like a Rauchbier in that it's very meaty, salty, and smoky. This would be great with some sausage or a pepperoni pizza.

Malty Sweetness, Slight Hint of Chocolate, Raisins, Sherry and almost no hop aroma.

Appearance: Deep Ruby Red, Slight off White Head not Brown and Not Tan.

Flavor: Slight Roasted - not overpowering, Caramel malt maybe followed by delicate sherry, raisin, toffee flavors. Slight hop bitterness. I thought this beer described the Maillard Reaction (The Maillard Reaction is a complex series of chemical reactions initiated when "reducing sugars" react with free amino nitrogen. Maillard Reaction is responsible for the formation of a wide array of aromas including toffee, caramel, toast, nutty, raisin-like and sherry.

Mouthfeel: Medium Body and Medium Carbonation.

Overall Impression: Very drinkable and Smooth. The Bottle says it's brewed with brown sugar and it gets some of the different flavors from the brown sugar. I could for sure drink a few of these. This beer is the definition of the Maillard Reaction in my book.

Presentation: I received this as part of a mixed 18 pack for my birthday. They were all in a galvanized bucket with a book about American beer. Pretty cool looking, I guess I am easy to buy for. This is in a brown bottle with an older looking label, almost looks like a poster.

Appearance: Pours with 2 inches of light tan foam. This settles quickly into a thin layer of foam and minimal lacing. The beer itself is dark brown with just a hint of red. You can easily see though it when held to the light, a little light.

You can smell the brown sugar and very mild roasted notes, but there is also a coco-cola like aroma there as well. Along with pie crust and fresh baked cakes. Color is red/brown to black at the top of the glass. Head starts large and tan, but faded two pinky thickness and also seems to lose some color. Molasses/brown sugar flavors dominate. A sharp metallic tinge seriously hurts what is a pretty good fore taste. Mouthfeel is somewhat watery and it lacks any lasting roasted notes.

Part of a "Beers of America" collection I received for Christmas. Old Parchment-lloking label with lots of printing (most is too small for my old eyes), but the following is in larger font-- "Piedmont Brand Porter" "Freedom in Brewing", "A.D. 1799 Style" (enscribed in streamers in the talons of a Federalist Eagle), "Old Colonies", "A Superfine Brew", "Brewed and Bottled by MDII Monroe, WI".

Pours a very cola like beer, even down to the very fizzy bubbled head that quickly vanishes, much like if poured from a can of Coke. Once the fizzies go from the head, this is as flat as Still Water in the Old Country. It's brownish black like a porter, but looks thin and watery, not rich and full as expected. And that's beofre smelling or tasting it.

Aroma- sharp, burnt malt (charcoal?, fireplace ashes?).

Flavor- some roasty notes, a malt base with a bit of hops at the end. Maybe the lightest of chocolate. Very unsatisfying.

Mouthfeel- surprisingly thin.

I am reaching the end of this series of beers, and this is the least satisfying of the bunch.

12 oz received as a cool extra from jjanega08.. thanks Jozef.. poured into my Chimay goblet..

1" head from an aggressive pour.. no lace and the head dies within :15 seconds ... pretty lack luster cap. the brew is dark brown..

the nose is more fruity than anything else. lite... plums... some dried cherries.. and a pronounced "cola".. actually very little traditional porter aromas.... lite chocolate .. and even lighter dark malts.. brown sugar emerges as it warms.. but no other real porter qualities emerge.

flavor is a big let down.. I was hoping for more.. pretty much lite coffee with some out front fruity esters.. more interesting (slightly) as it warms to room temperature.. very light body and a fizzy carbonation... not great .. and barely good.. okay if I was grading friend's homebrew, but even then, my friends brew better than this.

This makes me think that there is nobody behind the wheels at this brewery.. more likely just a mechanical pump that pushes mediocre brews through dark grains (I know this does not actually happen).. but still.. a fizzy dark brew that is sorta burning in my tummy.. pretty terrible.. even for me.. and I don't traditionally like middle of the road porters.

Thanks Jozef.. but no thanks.. an average brew at best that needs to be whittled down to the basics and reworked.... really... people buy this??!!

One of the beers from the Beers of America Historical Beer Collection.

A: Pours a somewhat clear tannish color leaning towards light orange-red. Not much head except for a thin, white ring.

S: Generally fresh with hints of roasted sweet malts.

T: Strong sweet malt flavor with some diacetyl, citrusy hops and a faint roasted character. This would serve as a nice, heavier American Wheat ale, but this is definitely not a Porter in the conventional sense of the style.

M: Somewhat thin with medium carbonation.

D: It was drinkable enough, but nothing about this beer said Porter to me.

Bottle poured into a chalice.The head is frothy and dense. It looks nice. I'd guess root beer if I was across the room.Smells like some coffee and german perles. Toasted oak is quite present. Nothing offensive or overpowering. Im growing more surprised by this porter every second that goes by.Tastes like it smells. Nothing veiled or hidden here. It is what it is.Mouth feel falls a bit short for me. It's not bad really but feels like a brown ale, not a porter.Drinkability; too drinkable for a porter. I should'nt be able to drink 12 pints of porter but I believe I could drink 12 of these " entry level porters.

A = Clear dense reddish brown, formed a one finger off white head which slowly dissipated leaving lacing on the glass. The color is pleasing, but it is far lighter than I expect from a porter. If this were not called a porter but a brown ale or something, I might have given it a higher score on appearance.

This was one of the samplings from a gift pack for american beers. Glad that it was a gift.

Appearance - nice brown color, low carbonation & head is gone before you know it. It has a clear appearance & looks good enough to bring you in for a taste.

Smell - This is more malts then hops. Sweet smelling, chocolaty and roasty.

Taste - The flavor is sweet, but not overly sweet. Definitely needs more buttering, but not horrible. The sweetness from the brown sugar & the malts comes throughout and that is well balanced, but the lack of the bitter at the end of the sip makes the beer seem to fall flat .

Mouthfeel - The beer has a watery yet smooth body. It does feel flat due to lack of carbonation and wateriness, but would be constant with the feel of this era brewing (1799 AD).

Drinkability - The beer is a easy drink from start to finish. Would I search this beer out, no, but depending on choices or if I was gifted this pack again I know that I would drink this first.

This beer poured black with a decent tan head and rocky bubbles. The aroma is slightly sweet and malty, but if very faint. The taste is roasted and burnt with a hint of sweetness. The mouthfeel is a bit thin for the flavors it needs to support. Overall, this is an average beer, not too difficult to drink  but perhaps a bit watered down.

Clear russet with amber highlights, pretty light colored for a porter. Creamy light tan head that quickly fades to a skim and leaves little lace behind on the glass. Light toasted grain and brown sugar are detected in the mild nose. Brown sugar, bubblegum and a touch of toasted malt. This beer is way undermalted for the style, it's more Oktoberfest than porter. Light, watery and fizzy. This beer is just not very good.

Wife picked this up for me in a twelver with 5 other types of beer. Smell in the bottle is more lager type sweet with undertones of roasting. Poured it into a boot mug. Good foamy head, lacing all the way down. Not much aroma in the mug. Color is mildly translucent dark brown. Taste is good, initially, but not much of a finish. Seems to be lacking carbonation. Not as "thick" as what I would expect for a porter. It's a good attempt but it falls short. When I saw porter I got excited, but not too much too be excited about. This beer might be good to cook the bratwurst.